[Python-Dev] Why does base64 return bytes?

[Paul Moore]

On 14 June 2016 at 16:19, Steven D'Aprano <steve at pearwood.info> wrote:
> Why does base64 encoding in Python return bytes?

I seem to recall there was a debate about this around the time of the
Python 3 move. (IIRC, it was related to the fact that there used to be
a base64 "codec", that wasn't available in Python 3 because it wasn't
clear whether it converted bytes to text or bytes). I don't remember
any of the details, let alone if a conclusion was reached, but a
search of the archives may find something.

Paul